Standard Bars and Their Significance
February 12, 2010 by amy
Filed under Bars and Collars
Standard Bars are the most versatile piece of fitness equipment for building muscle tone and mass. Many exercises can be performed with a standard bar and complimentary weight plates, many fitness gurus wonder why anyone purchasing individual weight machines.
A standard bar and complete set of plates works the same as a complete set of dumbbells, but rather then shifting to an entire new set of dumbbells when you want to change weights, you simply change the plates on either end of the same bar and lock them in place with weight collars or clamp.
If you have little money to indulge with, you can still put together a decent set-up with a standard bar and a variety of weight plates. From there you can add more plates, a bench or an extra barbell when you have the money.
Really, the only reason you’d need more than one standard bar is if adding or removing plates can help your workout. More than one standard bar would also permit you to load plates for 2 exercises, giving your muscles a break from continuously changing the plates.
If you read fitness magazines then you’ve probably heard some disagreements when it comes to standard bars versus Olympic bars. The main distinction between these two types of bars lies in the diameter of their holes. For example, standard plates have 1-inch holes and use slightly smaller plates; while Olympic plates have 2-inch holes and use somewhat larger plates. Also the weight increments for standard plates are slightly dissimilar from Olympic weights.
According to fitness gurus with a standard bar and plates your workout is compelete, but if you’re into serious weight lifting or power lifting competitions you may want to splurge for the Olympic set.